Tomb of Giuliano de' Medici (detail)

1526-33
Marble
Sagrestia Nuova, San Lorenzo, Florence

Unlike the thoughtful Lorenzo, Giuliano de' Medici, who died in 1516, stretches his neck out to the group around the Mother of God in a manner suggestive of his eagerness for action. The command staff in his hands indicates that he was nominated the 'generalissimo' of the church by his brother, Pope Leo X, in 1516, the year he became Pope. This ruler, who acquired his position as a duke thanks to his marriage to Philiberta of Savoy, embodies the Active Life.